This is not a difficult job. First of all go out to a home depot or other hardware store and purchase one three way switch. They come in white, cream, and brown.

Back home, kill the power to the lights you are working on. Then open up the dimmer switch, the other switch doesnt need to be changed. Now, simply draw a diagram of where each wire color is now connected and remove the old dimmer. Reconnect the wires. Remember that the white wire goes on the dull color screw and the other two go on the brass screws. Turn the power back on.

If you do all this and the switch only works correctly part of the time just reverse the two wires on the bright brass screws. Please mark this answer as a fixya!

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Related Questions:

How many switches do you want to be in the circuit when you are finished?

A three way switch can be used in a circuit where one or two switches are desired.

What you need to find is which two wires go to the light, and which two come from the power.

Are you in the US, if so, there will be a white wire which should be a non current carrying conductor. It will not be attached to the switch.

Without understanding the number of switches that are currently in the circuit, I'm going to tell you if you just are wanting to replace a single switch with a three way, than "yes" that is not a problem.

The dimmer switch you select will depend on the type of bulbs you will be using. The 'original type ' of dimmer works with regular incandescent bulbs and halogen bulbs only. They cost around $15.00. Then there are dimmers for compact florescent (cfl) bulbs and LED lights that are dimmable, as well for regular light bulbs. These types of dimmers are more expensive, ranging in price form around $40.00 upwards.Light Switches Dimmers

If you are replacing a single pole switch ( just one switch that operates lights) you'll need a single pole dimmer. If you are replacing a 3-way switch ( two switches that operate the same light) you'll need a 3-way dimmer.
Installing the dimmer is pretty straight forward. All dimmers come with installation instructions. Make sure you turn off the circuit breaker for the particular switch you are replacing.

Once you identify type of dimmer, add a comment and say if dimmer is single-pole or 3-way.A 3-way dimmer would be in a hallway, where more than 1 device controls same lights.Single pole is where one device controls lights.

If I know what dimmer you have, I can search for the product and add another comment.

To separate any wiring problem from dimmer problems, temporarily replace the dimmer with a regular switch. Use it that way for few weeks if necessary. If it works normally with the switch, you need a new dimmer.

The dimmer with 4 wires is a 4-way switch, but to use it as a single switch you only need two of the wires. Use one from the top and one from the bottom. Cap off the other two wires on this switch (independently, not together).
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From among the 4 wires coming from the wall you need to find the one incoming hot wire, and identify what each of the other 3 wires feeds. Temporarily cap off one of those 4 wires and connect the other three together. Turn on the breaker. If nothing lights up, the single wire is the hot wire. If two things light up, the single wire is the thing that didn't light up. Label your findings so far. Turn off power, then try other combinations until you have identified all 4 of these wires.
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Your single hot wire needs to connect to one terminal on all three switches. The other 3 wires will each be connected to the remaining terminal on one of the switches.
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I don't know what style your 4 way switch is, but if you find that it operates "up-side-down" (up being off and down being on), then you can remedy that. If your outgoing terminal on that switch was say, the lower left, then swap it with the lower right.
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Good luck. Thanks for using FixYa!
Al Kupchella

This is a 3-way switch, made to control a light fixture that is also controlled by another switch in a different location. A typical example is a ceiling light fixture installed in an upstairs hallway, which could be controlled by switches at both top and bottom of the staircase.

The green wire in your switch is the ground connection, and joins to the green insulated or bare copper ground wire in the switch box. The red wire is the common connection. It connects either to the incoming AC hot wire from the electric panel, or to the hot terminal of the light fixture, depending on the switch location. The two black wires are traveller connections. They connect to the traveller terminals of the other 3-way switch.

If you purchased this switch as a replacement for a regular single-pole toggle switch or dimmer switch - one that controls a light from a single location only - then this isn't what you need and you can't use it. You'll know if you have a single-pole switch because it will have only three wires or screw connections. Return it and get a single-pole.

To install this as a replacement for a 3-way toggle switch or dimmer, connect the red wire to the wire going to the common terminal of the original switch. This will be a black- or brass-colored screw on a toggle switch, or the different-colored (not green, that's ground) wire on a dimmer. The black wires connect to the wires that go to the traveller screws (copper-colored) on a toggle switch, or the same-colored wires on a dimmer. It doesn't matter which traveller wire connects to which.

Note that if you're using a 3-way dimmer, only one of the switches can be a dimmer. The other switch has to be a plain old 3-way toggle.

The problem is that the Cooper #9530DS-K-L is actually a 3-way switch and you need a single pole dimmer switch to replace your existing single pole toggle switch.

If you want to use the Cooper switch you have you can take one of the black wires and cap it with a wire nut and connect the other two wires, but frankly, you'd be paying about 2 times the price for a 3-way dimmer switch when you only need a single pole switch.

You should be able to return the switch and get the correct one.

You should only have (2) black wires on the proper replacement switch, plus a ground wire

the two black wires spliced are Live wires ( same value as RED) the other single black is the return. The two twisted blacks from the wall go into ther active hole of the new switch and the single into the return. No third wire for earth is needed